'The Dark Crystal' Digital Re-Release Interview: Lisa Henson

Moviefone speaks with Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson about 'The Dark Crystal' Digital Re-Release and its Legacy. "It was a classic world building exercise."

Available for purchase or to rent on The Muppets and featured groundbreaking animatronics.

'The Dark Crystal' will be available for purchase or to rent on digital beginning February 6th.

Lisa Henson about the digital re-release of ‘The Dark Crystal.’ She discussed the development of the project, why her father wanted to direct something darker and fantasy-driven, the movie’s advances in animatronics, the popularity of the movie, the future of the franchise and the legacy of Jim Henson.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.

Related Article: Brian Henson Talks 'Labyrinth' Digital Re-Release and Playing Hoggle

The CEO of the Jim Henson Company, Lisa Henson talks 'The Dark Crystal' digital re-release.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the development of this movie and why your father wanted to do something darker and more fantasy-driven after the success of ‘The Muppet Show’ and 'The Muppet Movie’?

Lisa Henson: He was not expected to take this kind of turn. He was so successful with ‘David Odell wrote was really coming in to focus later. So, this was a movie that was a classic world building exercise.

1982's 'The Dark Crystal.' Photo: The Jim Henson Company. Copyright: Labyrinth Enterprises.

MF: Can you talk about the groundbreaking animatronics that your father helped create for this project?

LH: If you put yourself back to pre-CGI, pre-everything, they had no computer to rely on either visually or even in of driving the mechanics. The contemporaneous puppetry is Yoda (from ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’), which in each case, was one character. The Henson Company was building an entire world with hundreds (of puppets). So that was sort of the scale of what they were trying to do, which was also amazingly ambitious. So, some of the same things that were being solved with Yoda and with E.T., whether it was eye blinking or fingers, all these things were mechanical and engineering challenges. Even the foam that something might become, the skin was a challenge, and everything was an engineering challenge. Then ‘Dark Crystal’ doubled, tripled, and quadrupled the challenge by the array of characters that they wanted to put on screen.

1982's 'The Dark Crystal.' Photo: The Jim Henson Company. Copyright: Labyrinth Enterprises.

MF: The film was not well-received at the time of its release but has gone on to become a modern classic. Can you talk about the legacy of the movie, and did your father live long enough to see the movie become beloved by fans? If he was here now, what would he think about the fact that we are still talking about ‘The Dark Crystal’ almost 40 years later?

LH: I think it makes me wonder what it would've been like for him to live and see that both movies, both ‘The Dark Crystal’ and Labyrinth have become enduring classics that are extremely appreciated for the artistry and the innovation that went into them. At the time, ‘Dark Crystal,’ critically was complicated. It was respected on a certain level, but people felt a bit betrayed. "Why are the people who did ‘The Muppets’ doing something that's a little scary?” But at the same time, there were people who appreciated it, and it did perform well internationally, and maybe even a little better in America than people feared. So, ‘The Dark Crystal’ performed well enough that he was able to get the financing with The Muppet Movie’.

Netflix's 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.' Photo: Kevin Baker.

MF: The franchise recently expanded with Netflix’s prequel series, ‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,’ are their plans for more live action ‘Dark Crystal’ in the future?

LH: We are always doing ‘Dark Crystal’ stuff. One of the things we have done between productions is publications and graphic novels. So, we develop storylines for the world of Thra, which if you didn't know, it is the name of the planet in ‘Dark Crystal.’ So, we are always opening that world up with books and graphic novels in between productions.

(L to R) Director Jim Henson and Brian Henson as Hoggle on the set of 'Labyrinth.' Photo: The Jim Henson Company. Copyright: Labyrinth Enterprises.

MF: Finally, can you talk about your father’s legacy and the work of the Jim Henson Company that continues to this day?

LH: We have a lot of fun managing the legacy, and whether it's making a brand new ‘Fraggle Rock’ show for Netflix, which was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. To be able to bring that world to life again, I never thought we would do it. With 'Fraggle Rock' as well, those shows were so beautiful and so complicated that being offered by today's streamers the chance to go back and revisit and do puppet spectaculars again, it's been wonderful and rewarding.

The Dark Crystal

"Another world, another time...in the age of wonder."

PG1 hr 33 min Dec 17th, 1982

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch The Dark Crystal Online

What is the Plot of ‘The Dark Crystal?’

On another planet in the distant past a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal and restore order to his world before the grotesque race of Skeksis find and use the crystal for evil.

Who is in the Cast of ‘The Dark Crystal’?

Stephen Garlick as the voice of Jen
Lisa Maxwell as the voice of Kira
Billie Whitelaw as the voice of Aughra
Percy Edwards as the voice of Fizzgig

'The Dark Crystal' will be available for purchase or to rent on digital beginning February 6th. Photo: 'Dark Crystal' theatrical poster with art by Richard Amsel.